Rust‘s Controversial Random Gender Update Has Led To More Players

A couple weeks ago, survival hit Rust added playable women. This is, however, Rust we’re talking about, so players don’t get to choose whether they’re a dude or a lady. Controversy ensued. People threatened to stop playing. Some said Rust had dug its own grave. Turns out, the game’s player count has actually gone up.…

Watch This Speedrunner Crush Dark Souls 3 In Just Over An Hour

It took me almost 40 hours to beat every boss in Dark Souls 3. It’s taking speedrunner Distortion2 just over an hour, and he’s cutting off minutes every single day. There are few things more enjoyable than watching another person blast through a Souls game after you’ve endured its tortures. Granted, any Souls game is…

That Time Prince Inspired a Mortal Kombat Character

Mortal Kombat’s got ninjas of all different colors. Yellow-clad Scorpion is hot like fire and green-skinned Reptile spits acid at fools. Sub-Zero may wield cryokinetic power but he’s not the coolest martial artist in the fighting game series. That title goes to Rain, because he was created as an homage to Prince. Rain was originally…

Star Fox Zero: The Kotaku Review

Even if you can get used to the awkward controls, Star Fox Zero is merely mediocre. It’s as disappointing a major Nintendo console release as there’s been in some time. You’re Fox McCloud himself, once again the pilot of your very own Arwing fighter, flying or, on rare occasions, driving a tank, through missions in…

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Will Be Shown In A Theater This Weekend

On Sunday, for the first time since 2006 (as far as I can tell), Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children will be screened in a theater—an actual theater. The polarizing film, which continued the story of Cloud and his angsty buddies after they defeated Sephiroth way back in the 90s, will be shown at the Newport…

Twitch Is Giving Out Deodorant At PAX East

If you’ve ever been to a convention, you know what a problem body odor can be. But judging from pictures coming out of PAX East this morning, Twitch is doing its part to help with the smelly crisis. Genius! Another picture, courtesy of @therealcliffyb: The stunt is not surprising, given that Old Spice is listed…

Half-Life‘s Black Mesa Test Chamber, In LEGO Form

One of the most memorable scenes of Half-Life was right at the beginning, when Gordon Freeman woke up in a severely damaged test chamber, realizing that getting out of the facility will be a bit problematic. LEGO builder Dorian Glacet created a superb diorama, called Resonance Cascade, showing the events that led to this very…

The Game of Thrones Opening Credits Recreated with Paper 

Just time in for the upcoming season 6 premiere, here’s Moleskin doing a stop-motion version of the opening credits with paper cutouts. According to DesignBoom, this took 7,600 paper cutouts to complete. As far as online notebook ads go, this is pretty good. The making-of is also interesting to watch.

The Return of Japan’s Strangest English Textbook

Many Japanese think English is a difficult language. So why not make that linguistic grind enjoyable? That’s exactly what this odd little book does. A few years ago, Kotaku introduced English Words That Don’t Appear on Tests (here and here). It’s a wonderful English book filled with silly drawings and words and sentences that probably…

Fushimi Inari Shrine. Kyoto, Japan. By Christian Astorga. JPGs is a photo peek into wherever gamers might find interesting. If you’re a photographer and have images you want to share, drop us a line!

Digimon Breeding Is So Complicated, I Had to Make Spreadsheets

While a bit time consuming, it was relatively easy for me to get the digimon I wanted in Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth. In the new game, Digimon World: Next 0rder, it’s a whole lot more complicated. Like, “get your spreadsheets ready” complicated. Back in the early 2000s, I was enough into Digimon that I watched…

A valiant Overwatch sacrifice. In this clip from silvert0rch, a Reinhardt player valiantly takes one for the team by charging a self-destructing D.Va mech and shoving it away from his allies. I will name the hammer in the toolbox under my kitchen sink after you, brave sir. Here’s the full thing:

Fallout 4 Player Makes Perfect Sign

Today on Highlight Reel we have signs, Dark Souls 3 invasions, cat encounters, DayZ police and much more! Watch the video above or on our Youtube Page, then talk about your favorite highlight in the comments below. Be sure to check out, like, and share the original videos via the links below Witcher 3 –…